How IFS Ensures Food Safety On Marine Vessels

At IFS, we put the safety and wellbeing of our crew first. This endeavor aims at ensuring that vessels have a happy, well-fed, motivated, and well-nourished crew. We take a proactive approach to identifying potentially problematic areas and addressing them before they become an issue, especially in regard to food safety on board, which is highly critical, as it protects seafarers from health-related risks.These are some of the critical steps that IFS takes to ensure food safety:

Offering Guidelines and Food Safety Posters

IFS has achieved this progressive step by customizing cleaning schedules, temperature log sheets, and guides on food preparation, food safety, and food storage. These guidelines have helped coordinate the crew’s activities in the galley, mess room, and storage areas.

Vetting The Food Supply Chain

One important strategy that we implement is to source safe, healthy, and nutritious ingredients from our global network of suppliers. We also audit our suppliers and follow up on claims in case of issues arising from the quality of supplied food. This helps us to prevent foodborne diseases caused by unsafe or contaminated food.

• A foodborne disease, commonly referred to as ‘food poisoning’, is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “any disease of an infectious or toxic nature caused by or thought to be caused by the consumption of food.”Some of the factors that lead to food poisoning may include:
• Consumption of undercooked food. A best practice in galleys should ensure that the food is thoroughly cooked, especially meat and poultry.
• Improper food storage. We train Chief Cooks on the importance of not storing food at room temperature after preparing it too early in advance. The best practice is to prepare the food shortly before it is consumed.
• Cross-contamination. This may occur from the use of unsanitary physical objects, chemical substances, and micro-organisms.
• Poor personal hygiene of food handlers. Food handlers are regularly advised -with training and health manuals provided by IFS- to maintain the highest levels of personal hygiene in food storage, preparation, cooking, and serving.
• Unsafe food holding temperatures - storage of food at room temperature, unsafe refrigeration temperatures, and unsafe hot storage temperatures.

Storage facilities on board must meet the following requirements;

• Be weatherproof
• Have adequate light control
• Be easily accessible
• Follow the First-in-First-Out procedure

Regular Auditing

In all our vessels trading worldwide, our catering auditors routinely conduct safety inspections for the purposes of identifying potential food hazards, assigning action points, and implementing relevant changes. Our auditors use the HACCP app that allows us to standardize audits. Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a practical system that analyzes all the critical points in all the food chain activities.Some of the critical factors considered during the audits include temperature tests, inventory control, and cleanliness on board.

Training, training, training

As a maritime catering company, we are committed to ensuring that our teams at IFS encapsulate our values and standards, as guided by the Maritime Labour Convention (2006) guidelines. We conduct regular training of chief cooks via the IFS coach online modules, we give access to cooking apps and digital cookbooks -with movies, menu, and order planning tools- we do annual audits, and HACCP self-assessment tools and checklists. We have dedicated training modules for food safety. We have also developed resources along the thematic areas of catering and food safety guidelines that we share with our trainees. We believe that sufficient and proper training will help our staff strengthen the safety culture on board.